Hey im not sure if this is the right forum but didnt know where else to put it. Basically my late grandfather was a boxer in the British Army (Flyweight) i knew he was very good and won a British armed Forces tournament for his weight in 1935. However, recently i was around my nans and she had this box with 20 or so trophies which were just the ones he'd bothered to keep. Most of them werent engraved as you had to get paid to do that yourself but a few were and she let me take them. Ive tried looking for information on him online but cant find a thing and was hoping some of you could help or give me some advice on where to find out about this kind of stuff. His names Len Whitehouse and i would like it if i could find an article or anything about him online as it would be nice to know what his achievements were, my nans memory is far from great on this stuff. Any help will be greatly appreciated and i can post photos of the trophies ive kept if they will be of any use.
Doesn't appear to have turned pro mate. So I'd guess he won a few army or amateur tournaments and I don't know if records are kept of them. This wouldn't be would him though? http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/content/articles/2009/09/03/war_declared_feature.shtml
Nah hed died by then, also he was left behind at Dunkirk so im sure that wouldve got a mention. Yeah he didnt turn pro. He left the army just before the war and became a plumber but was re-enlisted naturally. ah thats what i was wondering about if there was some kind of records because it was in the army/armed forces. I know he did fiarly well and had his picture hung in his battallions (?) barracks but was just hoping i could find some list of achievements or something.
This is probably obvious and you have probably looked, but google newsarchives is a good chance to have some snippets.
Thanks but im completely new to this kind of thing, tried but struggled to find anything British let alone relevant, any tips?
I would advise getting in touch with Boxing News, the oldest boxing magazine still in existence (est. 1909) asking if they have an archive of what they reported in the 1930s. They have been reporting on British boxing, amateur and professional, every week for over a century.
I'm sorry, my database of 5992 boxers going back to 1918 does not list him... I'm constantly adding to it and if I run across anything on Len Whitehouse I will tag it and I'll post it on here. Best of luck to you and please let us know what you find!
I'd recommend going to http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ They should be able to provide information on accessing British military records and archives
Thanks for all the posts. Im going to try contact the army and boxing news (cheers for the idea unforgiven) and see if they have anything. Any information i find ill post up here if anyone is still interested.
